Paving the Path to Homeownership for Housing Choice Voucher Holders
Since the mid-20th century, homeownership has been one of the most important vehicles for building wealth in the United States. According to research from the…
Grants
Featured
Our Grantmaking Strategy
For more than 100 years, The Chicago Community Trust has convened, supported, funded, and accelerated the work of community members and changemakers committed to strengthening the Chicago region. From building up our civic infrastructure to spearheading our response to the Great Recession, the Trust has brought our community together to face pressing challenges and seize our greatest opportunities. Today, that means confronting the racial and ethnic wealth gap.
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Grant Recipient
Greenwood Archer Capital, Inc.
Greenwood Archer Capital (GAC), a mission-driven CDFI dedicated to equitable economic development, seeks funding to offset administrative and compliance costs associated with managing the Chicago Neighborhood Rebuild 2.0 program, funded by ARPA. This grant will enable GAC to overcome operational barriers, enhancing its ability to rehabilitate vacant properties, promote affordable homeownership, and create workforce opportunities. By strengthening its capacity to manage government-funded initiatives, GAC will advance its mission to foster economic stability and inclusive community development in historically disinvested Black and Latine communities in Chicago.
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Grant Recipient
The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
The proposed project seeks to advance research centering the lived experiences of residents from Chicago’s most socially and economically under-resourced communities. By doing so, our goal is to support research that impacts the basic needs of these individuals to help identify solutions that can improve health and empower residents in this work. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) can shift historical power inequities by making community members—particularly those from Chicago’s neighborhoods facing the highest levels of social and economic hardship-- active and valued members of the research team. By supporting community-led, participatory research of issues affecting basic needs, grassroots teams and academics can better partner to identify solutions that improve health, an integral component to addressing the racial wealth gap. The Community Citizen Scientist Certificate Program was developed at UIC as part of the citywide, Chicago Department of Public Health-led, hyperlocal COVID-19 response. Central to this work was the empowerment of Community-based Organizations (CBOs) and community members to provide COVID-19 outreach to their neighbors while building their capacity to accomplish career goals. Community members were paid to be trained on self-selected medical, public health and medical research career pathways they could pursue post-pandemic. The UIC School of Public Health (SPH) created the Community Citizen Scientist Certificate Program to train community members in public health and medical research fundamentals and prepare students for careers in public health, medicine and medical scientific research. We now seek to relaunch the Community Citizen Scientist Certificate Program at UIC to meet the citywide demand to build public health, medicine and medical scientific research capacity at the neighborhood level through the Healthy Chicago Equity Zones (HCEZ) and other hyperlocal public health practice initiatives.
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Grant Recipient
NIJC NFP
As the new administration dramatically increases immigration enforcement, immigrants and service providers are seeking legal guidance on how to respond to rapidly changing immigration laws. Immigrants and service providers frequently turn to the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) for its expert legal guidance. NIJC has experienced a surge of requests from community members and service providers—including hospitals, social service agencies, and schools—seeking training and information about their own rights and the rights of their patients, clients, students and participants. Legal counsel is critical as immigrants are facing an unprecedented danger of detention and deportation. NIJC’s legal experts quickly analyze new laws and policies, provide guidance regarding the on-the-ground implications, and educate the community and service providers through presentations (live and virtual), videos and written resources. With CCT’s support, NIJC will increase the number and reach of its Know Your Rights presentations, create and disseminate new materials highlighting law and policy changes, and provide legal representation to immigrants and refugees facing enforcement, detention and deportation.
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Grant Recipient
Crisis Center for South Suburbia
The Crisis Center for South Suburbia respectfully submits this letter of inquiry (LOI) to the Chicago Community Trust (CCT) as a part of the Match General Operating Support for Recipients of Government Grants program for the amount of $50,000. The Crisis Center for South Suburbia serves individuals and families that have been victimized by domestic violence, and it our ultimate goal to eliminate domestic violence in our community. Victims of domestic violence require comprehensive support services such as emergency shelter, transitional housing, counseling, education and training, financial literacy, credit repair, transportation assistance, case management, and advocacy to become self-sufficient as they set out to achieve a life free from abuse. Other needs may include access to legal, medical, mainstream, and social resources to ensure economic security and foster independence. We are committed to being a ‘safety net’ and providing these services, therefore alleviating some of the obstacles that stand in front of victims of domestic violence.
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Grant Recipient
Center for Neighborhood Technology
The Systems Change Working Group (SCWG) works with the Elevated Chicago steering committee, key stakeholders and staff to design and implement strategies to change policies to support equitable transit-oriented development. This working group works in partnership with two other working groups (Capital and Programs and Knowledge Sharing). For the 2025 year, the Systems Change Working Group priorities will be: • Advocate for increased operations funding for transit, and the governance reform that is likely required to secure funding. • Support the creation of a designated office of ETOD at CTA, with the staff, resources and authority to integrate equitable transit-oriented development within the agency. • Advocate for removal of parking minimums to right-size the number and location of parking spaces built, and encourage use of transit, walking and biking. • Allow 3-flats by right, taking a nuanced and equitable approach that acknowledges different neighborhood markets and challenges and mitigates any potential loss of affordable homes. • Support community-based developers building near transit, by securing funding for technical assistance for emerging developers and working with developers to identify priority process and policy change recommendations that would create and support the enabling environment for ETOD. • Produce a ‘State of ETOD’ report that describes the state of equitable transit-oriented development in Chicago, progress made to date and recommendations for the future.
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Grant Recipient
Housing Opportunity Development Corporation
Housing Opportunity Development Corporation (HODC) is requesting $50,000 to support the administrative costs associated with a $3,000,000 grant awarded by Cook County. These funds are a crucial piece supporting the development of a new 48-unit supportive housing project in Northbrook. This will be the first affordable housing development in Northbrook, bringing much needed affordable housing to a high-cost area. It is slated to begin construction in Spring 2025. This transformative project will create 48 new affordable housing units in a residential mid-rise building targeted to families and individuals living with disabilities. All of the units will be leased to households earning 60% AMI or less. This grant will directly support the administrative overhead required to manage the project, including but not limited to: • Project Management: Overseeing all aspects of the development process, from planning and design to construction and occupancy. • Financial Management: Tracking and managing project budgets, ensuring compliance with grant requirements and financial reporting. • Compliance and Reporting: Adhering to all federal, state, and local regulations, as well as submitting required reports to funding agencies. The $50,000 grant will be instrumental in ensuring the smooth and efficient execution of this vital affordable housing project, ultimately contributing to the overall well-being of the community.
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Grant Recipient
IFF
Capital and Programs Working Group (CPWG) advances and supports equitable investments and programming that leverage transit as an asset towards the creation of sustainable, culturally vibrant, healthy and connected communities. CPWG carries out this purpose by informing Elevated Chicago's deployment of grants, capital, and technical assistance resources to locally driven programs and built environment projects. CPWG is seeking funding to support activities in 2025.
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Grant Recipient
ILLINOIS COALITION FOR IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE RIGHTS
In response to federal policy changes, ICIRR is expanding its statewide Rapid Response Team Network, prioritizing Chicago as administration officials have repeatedly cited it as a key target for immigration enforcement. These teams are trained in ICE activity verification, raid response, and direct family support to ensure a comprehensive response. To strengthen this work, ICIRR is launching a Deportation Defense Fellowship to embed centrally trained fellows within partner organizations, providing culturally and linguistically appropriate support and building long-term resilience. A newly created Deportation Defense Director will oversee training, deployment, and strategic planning for these efforts, positioning ICIRR and its network of over 125 member organizations to deliver a unified, impactful response to evolving threats to the immigrant community.